Lockheed Martin is moving the US hypersonic missile program a step closer to production with the announcement that it has begun work on its Next Generation Glide Body (NXGB), a new hypersonic vehicle designed for low-cost, large-scale manufacturing.
Category: Military, Engineering
Tags: Lockheed Martin, Hypersonic
A lot of modern multitools are designed with outdoor use in mind: they are compact, functional, and easy to carry. The Ti-Trailblazer takes a unique approach by making a compass its main feature and building 10 additional tools around it. The product is currently seeking funding on Kickstarter.
Category: Knives and Multitools, Gear, Outdoors
Tags: Multitools, EDC, Kickstarter, xxKickbooster, Titanium, Navigation
Chinese scientists have discovered a way to combine high-tech light-absorbing nano-technology with more conventional water-based carbon pigment spray to coat car bodies with a durable ultra-black finish. The result is a black that creates a ‘black-hole’ effect of virtually no reflected light at all.
Category: Automotive, Transport
Tags: Super-Black, Paint, Coatings, Cars, Robust
Earlier this year, Nikon introduced a new version of one of its professional workhorse lenses: the Nikkor Z 70-200 F2.8 VR S II. We've now had the chance to spend some time with it, shooting portraits, firefighting aircraft and more. You can jump straight to the gallery to see the results for yourself, or read on to see what we thought about how it feels to use and the images it produces.
In Use Three of the Z 70-200mm F2.8 VR S II's states. Left: its smallest and lightest configuration (998g / 35oz). Middle: the lens with the cosmetic bayonet cover (1028g / 36.3oz). Right: the lens with its foot and hood (1248g / 44oz).The big (or rather, not so big) selling point of this lens is its size and weight. Without the tripod foot and cosmetic sleeve installed, it's only 998g (35.2oz); the lightest full-frame 70-200mm F2.8 for a mirrorless system. With that said, I typically preferred to use it with the tripod foot; it's Arca-Swiss compatible, making it very easy to mount to a tripod, and the lens isn't quite light enough that I feel terribly comfortable toting it around without a solid handle to remind me that I'm carrying a camera attached to a lens, not the other way around.
Even with the foot, the lens’s weight is competitive with that of its lightest competitors, and is a substantial improvement over the original. The lens's center of gravity is also remarkably consistent as you move through its zoom range, so you don't have to shift your grip as you change focal lengths.
The tripod foot and decorative bayonet collar are toollessly removable using a button and a bit of a tug.In terms of features and controls, this lens has most everything you could want, with the exception of the top-display from the previous generation that some – though not I – may miss. And as someone who has long disliked clickless control rings, it's good to see Nikon providing the option to click or declick the one on this lens, even if I’d still personally prefer a dedicated aperture ring.
I also appreciate the ample number of function buttons, which are available no matter what orientation you're holding the lens in. The manual focus and zoom rings are also satisfying to turn, and the latter is a relatively short throw, letting you move through the range quickly if need be. While the pattern on them provides plenty of grip, I do wish they were just a bit softer, but not enough that I'd be willing to accept any trade-off in durability.
The tripod collar can be freely rotated, making it easy to switch from portrait to landscape, even when mounted on a tripod. I do wish it had detents or clicks at 90° intervals, though, as those make it easier to tell when you're perfectly aligned.Nikon says the lens has an upgraded autofocus system, and I found it always kept up with the camera, snapping into focus very quickly. It never felt like the lens’s autofocusing motors were bottlenecking the body, or like I would have gotten a shot if only it had moved a bit faster.
When working in concert with a stabilized sensor, this lens's optical stabilization is among the most impressive that I've used in a full-frame zoom. It's so effective, in fact, that it can occasionally be a bit difficult to precisely recompose your image with it on, though I only really noticed that in a few situations.
OpticsWith the lens wide open at F2.8, there's noticeable vignetting at the corners throughout its focal range (though it's most noticeable at the long end). It mostly clears up by F4, though you'll see further improvements going to F5.6. While this can easily be corrected using the lens's profile, this will come at the cost of having fractionally more noise visible in the corners of the image.
You can gain a small sharpness advantage in the corners by stopping down, too, but in our experience, this lens is very sharp corner-to-corner no matter what focal length or aperture you're shooting at.
70mm F2.8 F4 F5.6 F8.0 200mm F2.8 F4 F5.6 F8.0I find the lens's bokeh to be very pleasing, rendering even busy backgrounds relatively smoothly. The specular highlights are also quite clean, without distracting aberrations, which is exactly what we'd want to see in a professional lens destined to shoot a lot of weddings with trendy lighting.
Nikon's latest coatings are also quite impressive. There was one time when I was shooting pretty much directly into the afternoon sun, which produced a somewhat washed-out image, but things improved as soon as I was shooting even a little off-axis.
1 2 3 Even with the sun directly outside of, or even in the frame, the lens was able to hold onto a fair amount of color and contrast.The lens makes use of minor software corrections for geometric distortion – there's a very mild amount of pincushion distortion at the long end and barrel distortion on the short end – but we wouldn't consider using them mandatory. And, indeed, neither does Nikon; with the 70-200mm F2.8 VR S II attached, the camera allows you to turn off Auto Distortion Control, which isn't the case with every Z mount lens, such as the Nikon 24-120 F4 S.
Sample GalleryPlease do not reproduce any of these images on a website or any newsletter/magazine without prior permission (see our copyright page). We make the originals available for private users to download to their own machines for personal examination or printing (in conjunction with this review); we do so in good faith, so please don't abuse it.
Sample galleryThis widget is not optimized for RSS feed readers. Click here to open it in a new browser window / tab.Thank you to Nikon for the loan of a Nikon Z8 to capture this gallery. All images were processed using our standard lens workflow in Capture One, with the manufacturer's distortion correction applied but no correction of vignetting.
Buy now:
Buy at AdoramaBuy at B&H PhotoLaser engraving custom graphics can elevate your craft projects to make them feel more polished and personalized. A new tool for the job that we've just come across looks like a great entry point for beginners.
Category: Electronics, Consumer Tech, Technology
Tags: Laser Engraver, DIY, Craft, 3D Printing, Kickstarter, xxKickbooster
We spend around one-third of our life vulnerable, snoozing away the hours while prone to mosquito bites, bear attacks, and college pranks (depending on your lifestyle).
Category: Brain Health, Body and Mind
Tags: Sleep, Brain, Synaptics, Brain activity, Alzheimer's disease
Though most human noses can detect suspicious smells at relatively high levels, they're not always able to discern every single scent. Researchers from the University of California - Berkeley, however, have developed an “electronic nose” that can pick up on the gases emitted by expired food or food allergens which they claim is “better than human noses.”
Category: Technology
Tags: UC Berkeley, Allergies, Electronic Nose, Food technology, Nanotubes
Toyota-backed SkyDrive's SD-05 multicopter has achieved stable flight at 100 km/h (62 mph), proving its wingless design handles real aerodynamic loads. The milestone feeds Japan's JCAB certification process and keeps 2028 commercial launch in sight, if regulators can keep pace.
A company known for its AI image generation has made a surprise pivot – to consumer healthcare. Midjourney has announced it will offer a "new form of medical imaging" using echolocation to map the body, in a day-spa setting, with the first center to open to the public in 2027.
Category: AI in Health, Medical Innovations, Body and Mind
Tags: Artificial Intelligence, Diagnostic devices, MRI, scanning, Health, Chronic illness, Disease, Age-Related, anti-aging
The first hotel run by robots will open its doors to the public next year. It comes as no surprise that it's happening in China – on the artificial island built for the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link, the cross-sea megaproject in the Pearl River Delta.
Category: AI and Humanoids, Technology
Tags: China, Artificial Intelligence, Humanoid, Hotel, Tourism, Future, Automation, Autonomous
The GT40 is perhaps Ford’s most recognizable car. It’s the car that put Ford on the racing map, famously anchoring the historic 1-2-3 finish at the 1966 Le Mans to defeat Ferrari of all carmakers. It’s a car that has spun off a whole line of imitators over the years.
Category: Automotive, Transport
Chinese researchers have taken a big step toward a world in which we can cultivate organs for transplant, with the first-ever embryo-disc model that can support and grow the seed cells required for in vitro cultivation. It's also a huge leap for regenerative medicine.
Tags: Chinese Academy of Sciences, Artificial organs, Organ donation, Embrio, molecular biology, Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPS)
If you've ever wondered why you remember surprises so vividly, new research has uncovered a fundamental pathway that encodes novel information in the brain differently.
Category: Learning & Memory, Brain Health, Body and Mind
Tags: University of Sydney, Brain-computer interface, Memory, Neuroscience, Brain activity, Signal Processing
Colorado's Rossmönster really established itself as one of the great masterminds of RV innovation in 2021, when it launched one of the most impressive pop-up expedition trucks the world has seen, before or since. It then turned its attention to upping the ante on other adventure vehicle categories, releasing impressive designs like the glass-walled Lagom pickup topper. Now it's unleashing its impressive design acumen on the B+ motorhome category, redefining just how comfortable and stylish a small Sprinter AWD adventure rig can be. Its all-new Loft instantly makes existing B+ models like the Winnebago Ekko feel stuffy and outdated.
Category: RVs and Motorhomes, Adventure Vehicles, Outdoors
Tags: rossmonster, Motorhomes, Motorhome, Campervan, RV, Off-road, Off-grid, Camping, Mercedes-Benz, Outdoors and Camping, Overland Expo
Neil Lu, Australian National University/The Conversation
Tags: gravitational waves, Black hole, Relativity Space, Time, LIGO
Until just a few hours ago, I'd never heard of Amble, and certainly not the Amble One electric ... car?
Category: Automotive, Transport
Tags: Electric Vehicles, Golf, Resort, Travel, E Mobile
An after-meal gummy packed with heat-inactivated bacteria appears to significantly reduce the prevalence of gum disease, with new research demonstrating that this simple measure could alleviate inflammation without upsetting the mouth's microbiome or requiring any other oral hygiene changes.
Category: Diet & Nutrition, Wellness and Healthy Living, Body and Mind
Tags: Tokyo, Oral bacteria, Oral hygiene, Mouth-care, Microbiome, Microbes, bleeding, Inflammation, Anti-inflammatory
From cash crunches to vaporizing partnerships with major manufacturers despite a multi-billion dollar valuation and shipping just a handful of vehicles over the last 12 years, Faraday Future (FF) has had an awfully rough go of building an electric car brand.
Category: AI and Humanoids, Technology
Tags: Humanoid, Faraday Future, Electric Vehicles, Robots
Rotterdam-based architecture and urban design firm MVRDV has completed work along the Quai de Queyries in Bordeaux's Bastide Niel district, with three striking buildings that hide a green oasis within.
Category: Architecture, Engineering
Adobe is acquiring Topaz Labs, the company behind widely used image and video enhancement tools, including Topaz Photo, Topaz Video and Topaz Gigapixel.
The announcement follows a previous partnership between the two companies, unveiled at Adobe Max in October 2025. At the time, Adobe integrated some of Topaz's popular upscale, denoise and sharpen models directly into Photoshop, providing access to the tools using Adobe's AI credits rather than a separate paid subscription for each app. Topaz Gigapixel was also added to the cloud-based version of Lightroom in February 2026.
With the acquisition, Adobe says it plans to expand Topaz's AI enhancement models – which include upscaling, noise removal, sharpening, stabilization, frame interpolation and footage restoration – across its Firefly AI generation software, Firefly Services, and Creative Cloud products. Adobe also highlighted the integration of Topaz's proprietary Neurostream technology, which enables large AI models to run locally on consumer hardware rather than requiring cloud processing.
What this means for existing Topaz customers isn't totally clear. Adobe says Topaz products will continue to be available as standalone offerings through Topaz's own website after the deal closes, and that Topaz Labs CEO Eric Yang will remain with the company. It adds that customers "can expect continued support and investment in future innovation." However, the announcement makes no mention of pricing, subscription structure or how Topaz's tools will be positioned relative to Creative Cloud subscriptions going forward.
The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2026, pending regulatory approval (which isn't always a given).
Adobe to Acquire Topaz LabsSAN JOSE, Calif. —June 25, 2026 — Adobe (Nasdaq:ADBE) — the global technology leader that unleashes creativity, productivity and customer experiences through innovative tools and platforms — today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Topaz Labs, an AI company specializing in industry-leading video and image enhancement models.
Adobe empowers everyone from first-time creators to creative professionals and enterprises with groundbreaking AI tools and technology across every stage of the creative process. Adobe's creative AI portfolio brings together industry-leading AI models in Adobe Firefly the all-in-one creative AI studio, and Adobe Creative Cloud applications including Photoshop, Lightroom, Premiere and more, delivering creative professionals pixel-level control and precision tooling.
As AI rapidly reshapes video and image creation, creatives are increasingly working across hybrid workflows that combine traditionally captured footage with AI-generated content, and they are expected to deliver high-quality results across a growing range of formats, devices and production methods. Topaz Labs provides a broad array of advanced AI models for video and image enhancement that analyze and improve existing visual content by sharpening detail, removing noise, restoring footage and increasing resolution, making them essential for any workflow that combines real-world capture with AI-generated imagery.
Topaz Labs develops professional quality AI video and image enhancement models and tools that are trusted by creative professionals such as Asteria Film Co, award-winning filmmaker Robert Stone and enterprises to deliver exceptional fidelity and high-quality results across professional filmmaking, documentary restoration, social content creation, photography and archival workflows. The company has developed proprietary AI models to support professional video use cases such as upscaling, sharpening, stabilization, frame interpolation, noise removal, footage restoration and more.
"Adobe Firefly, Firefly Services and Creative Cloud offer the industry's best creative tooling and top AI models for creators and brands, and we're excited to build on the strong demand for these products with Topaz Labs," said David Wadhwani, President, Creativity & Productivity Business, Adobe. "Creators are creating more content by mixing captured and generated images and video, and with Topaz Labs we will give every creator the quality and control to easily produce that content at higher quality and resolution."
"Building technology to make images and videos look their absolute best has been our life's work for more than twenty years," said Eric Yang, CEO of Topaz Labs. "We've always believed that technology should serve human creativity rather than replace it — and so has Adobe. Together, we believe we can dramatically expand what's possible for filmmakers and creators everywhere."
With Topaz Labs, Adobe will expand its video and image model offerings with state-of-the-art AI enhancement models in Adobe Firefly, Firefly Services and Creative Cloud apps, giving creators, designers, video professionals, photographers and enterprises the tools to achieve exceptional quality across every format and workflow. With millions of customers, Topaz Labs and its Emmy Award-winning AI technology will be integrated across Adobe's creative AI portfolio, giving creatives the ability to enhance footage, restore and remaster archival content, and blend AI-generated and traditionally captured content into seamless final productions. Topaz Labs will also bring its proprietary Neurostream technology that enables large, complex AI models to run locally on consumer devices, democratizing advanced image and video models previously limited to high-end systems or cloud-only usage and positioning Adobe to tap into the growing opportunity for efficient, on-device AI video.
After the transaction closes, Topaz Labs customers of all sizes can expect continued support and investment in future innovation and Topaz Labs products will remain available as standalone offerings through the company's website. Upon close, Topaz Labs CEO Eric Yang will continue to lead the Topaz Labs team.
Transaction Details
The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2026, subject to the receipt of required regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.
